Translation guide
How to express 'trawl' in Japanese, covering fishing, searching, and computing contexts.
To fish by dragging a large net along the sea bottom or through water.
The most direct and common way to say 'to trawl' in the fishing sense. Uses the loanword トロール (trawl) plus 漁 (fishing) and をする (to do).
There are many boats trawling in this area.
Literally 'bottom-dragging net fishing'. A more descriptive Japanese term, often used in formal or technical contexts.
Bottom trawling affects the seafloor ecosystem.
A shorter verb form using the loanword directly. Common in casual or spoken contexts.
The fishermen trawled all night.
To search through a large collection of items, information, etc., often thoroughly or systematically.
Means 'to search around' or 'to hunt around'. Implies moving from place to place looking for something. Fits the sense of trawling through shops, records, etc.
He trawled secondhand bookstores and found a rare book.
Means 'to investigate thoroughly'. Suitable for trawling through data, documents, or the internet.
Literally 'to scavenge' or 'to fish for'. Can be used for trawling through bins, piles, or the internet, but has a slightly negative or desperate nuance. Use with care.
Can sound like rummaging or scavenging; not neutral for formal searching.
To systematically scan or search the internet or databases, often using automated tools.
The standard term for web crawling. Derived from 'crawl', but used exactly like 'trawl' in tech contexts.
Search engines trawl the web to gather information.
General term for 'collecting data'. Can be used when the trawling is done manually or with unspecified tools.
The police trawled through past case records.
彼はゴミ箱を漁って食べ物を探した。
He trawled through the trash looking for food.
Researchers trawled social media for data.